The evolutionary psychology of men's coercive sexuality

Abstract

Psychological adaptation underlies all human behavior. Thus, sexual coercion by men could either arise from a rape-specific psychological adaptation or it could be a side-effect of a more general psychological adaptation not directly related to rape. Determining the specific environmental cues that men's brains have been designed by selection to process may help us decide which of these rival explanations is correct. We examine six testable predictions against existing data: (1) Both coercive and noncoercive sex will be associated with high levels of sexual arousal and performance in men.(2) Achieving physical control of a sexually unwilling woman will be sexually arousing to men. (3) Young men will be more sexually coercive than older men. (4) Men of low socioeconomic status will likewise be more sexually coercive. (5) A man's motivation to use sexual coercion will be influenced by its effects on his social image. (6) Even in long-term relationships men will be motivated to use coercion when their mates show a lack of interest in or resistance to sex because these are interpreted as signs of sexual infidelity. Current data support all six predictions and are hence consistent with the rape-specific hypothesis, but this does not eliminate the side-effect hypothesis, which is likewise compatible with the findings, as well as with the further evidence that forced matings increased the fitness of ancestral males during human evolution. We suggest some research that may help decide between the two hypotheses.

Multiple occurrences of king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) sexual harassment by Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella)

“…With the continued growth of the AFS population at Marion Island (Hofmeyr et al 1997;Hofmeyr et al 2006) the population might be reaching levels where there exists increasing competition for access to females. The observed behaviour may then be explained by the 'mate deprivation hypothesis' (Thornhill and Thornhill 1983;Thornhill and Thornhill 1992) which states that males with limited access to females are more likely to sexually coerce. The events took place on an AFS bachelor's beach or on beaches with very small AFS rookeries.…”

How genealogies can affect the space of reasons

“…The need for the focal practice is thus not simply postulated as being part of human nature, but shown to be entailed by more primitive and less controversial needs. This way of proceeding sets the genealogies of Craig, Williams, and Fricker apart from much-maligned just-so stories about human nature such as that of Randy and Nancy Thornhill (1983Thornhill ( , 1992, which raised eyebrows by declaring "men's tendency to rape" to form an innate part of human nature. 31 The genealogies of Craig, Williams, and Fricker are more modest in their assumptions in that they demonstrably but fallibly derive the needs they are interested in from structural needs that raise no eyebrows when presented as in some sense inscribed in human nature.…”

Punishment, proprietariness, and paternity: Men's violence against women from an evolutionary perspective

“…An alternative hypothesis has been advanced by researchers studying sexual coercion from an evolutionary perspective: sexual coercion in intimate relationships may be related to paternity uncertainty, with its occurrence related to a man's suspicions of his partner's sexual infidelity (Camilleri, 2004;Goetz, Shackelford, & Camilleri, 2008;Lalumière, Harris, Quinsey, & Rice, 2005;Thornhill & Thornhill, 1992;Wilson & Daly, 1992). Sexual coercion in response to cues of his partner's sexual infidelity might function to introduce a male's sperm into his partner's reproductive tract at a time when there is a high risk of cuckoldry (i.e., when his partner has recently been inseminated by a rival male).…”

“…Sexual coercion in response to cues of his partner's sexual infidelity might function to introduce a male's sperm into his partner's reproductive tract at a time when there is a high risk of cuckoldry. Thornhill and Thornhill (1992) also hypothesized that FIPC may be an anti-cuckoldry tactic designed over human evolutionary history by selective pressures associated with sperm competition.…”